


Back Where It Belongs

by telekinetic_hedgehog



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Dark Rey, Dark Side Rey, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Revenge, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-15 00:08:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7197104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telekinetic_hedgehog/pseuds/telekinetic_hedgehog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Until tonight, the Resistance has treated their captive with kindness and restraint, and Kylo thinks that's a sign of weakness. In the months since Starkiller, Rey's discovered the power of the dark side, and she's ready to remind him that not everyone comes from such a civilized planet. (TW for torture and implied non-con.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Rey stalked silently down the hall, sticking to the shadows. The Resistance base was quiet at this time of night, and no one was guarding the complex where the high-level captives were detained. She’d made sure of that. This night had been too long in planning for any details to go wrong.

Rey entered a stolen code on the keypad, and the door opened with a soft noise that sounded much louder in the relative silence than it really was. The doors in the cavernous wreckage Rey scavenged back on Jakku were like that, always seeming too loud and echoing in the dark, and if you were already on edge the softest noise would startle you.  That anyone else would have been startled by this particular door, she thought, was one of the many reasons why she was the one to come down here and do what no one else would dare.

Rey stepped across the threshold and let the door close behind her, taking a few steps toward the cell’s plain bed. The man sleeping in it looked peaceful—innocent, even, if you didn’t know better—in spite of the scar across his face and the manacles tethering his wrists to the headboard and connecting them with a cable. Rey frowned at the sight of him and took a deep breath. The Force was strong with her, and she directed some of its energy towards the sleeping man.

 _Hello, Kylo_ , her mind whispered to his, _it’s me._

His eyes fluttered open, and he smiled up at her.

“Decided you needed a teacher after all?”

She smiled sweetly back. “I couldn’t stay away.”

“I take it you discovered the truth about the dark side, then.”

“That it isn’t evil? That anger, pride, and fear are more powerful than anyone blinded by the light side wants to admit? That it’s necessary, to keep the light side in check? I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.” This she could say without lying, at least. “How are they treating you?”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Following all the regulations on prisoners of war like the spineless, self-righteous cowards they are. Everyone still wants to pretend I’m the general’s son. They think treating me with kindness will bring Ben Solo back. Healing power of love and all that.” He shook his head. “Ben Solo is dead. And this pretense of being civilized is a pathetic attempt to cover their weakness. Too bad I see right through it.”

“Of course you do.” Rey nodded knowingly.  “Can you use the Force at all?”

Kylo scowled. “I can still feel it, some. But I can’t _do_ anything with it, thanks to these.” He held up his wrists, and Rey noticed bruises around the edges of the manacles. So he’d been struggling, then. “Stupid device makes a circuit that prevents active use of the Force, even if it can’t cut me off from it completely.”

“Could we still connect our minds like we did on Starkiller, if I initiated it?”

He shrugged. “Probably.” He kicked the blanket off and sat up, crossing his legs and leaning back on the headboard and on his hands, which were now at his sides. Rey noticed, with some surprise, that he wasn’t in a prison uniform: he was shirtless and wearing only a pair of fleece trousers. Had those been Ben’s pyjamas, left behind years ago when he went to the Jedi Academy? Or had someone here given them to him? “Well, go on. Try it.”

Rey closed her eyes and gathered the Force around her, preparing herself. Her hands stretched out towards his face. Then, looking into his eyes, she penetrated his psyche and fastened the bonds between her mind and his. His dark, familiar presence was just as she remembered it: the resentment, the condescending spite, even the fear and self-doubt that only she had seen. He was twice as angry and twice as bored as he was during their last encounter. Without his knowledge, she dug in and planted the hooks that would prevent him from pulling away, even if he wanted to. And she had no doubt he would want to.

Rey turned her attention to the swirling flood inside of her, the storm of rage and pain she’d been trying to hide from everyone else for the past few months and that had threatened to burst out if she wasn’t careful to keep it dammed up. Feeling the power of the dark side surge, she aimed her concentration at the one person in the galaxy who truly deserved to feel all the suffering he’d caused in her.  

It was time for the dam to burst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd be super grateful for comments and concrits, and I'm open to suggestions, since I have only a vague idea of where I'm going with this.


	2. Chapter 2

_Jakku. Fourteen years earlier._

 

The dusty little girl had made it almost to the edge of the marketplace when a burly arm grabbed her, pulling her out of the sunlight and into a dark alley. Screaming for help, she pounded her fists against her attacker, but he was too strong. One of his hands covered her mouth, forcing her back to the wall, while the other went for the pouch at her side where she kept her last few credits.

“Hey! You there, let her go!” shouted a coarse, modulated voice behind him, and there stood a tall silhouette in the light from the alley entrance. The mugger let go of her and lunged for the stranger, reaching for his knife. A ring of blue light burst towards him, and he crumpled to the ground.

The stranger walked past the stunned man and knelt down in front of the girl. She could see her rescuer more clearly now: a humanoid wearing an eclectic uniform of armour and weapons. A bounty hunter, perhaps? They reached up to remove their helmet, and she was surprised to see a human woman with sandy hair and a scar on one cheek.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt?” she asked, sounding softer and kinder without the helmet’s voice modulator.

The little girl nodded.  

“Where are your parents?”

Her face lit up. “They’re coming back for me. Soon. Any day now.”

The bounty hunter gave a sad smile, then turned and rifled through the mugger’s pockets. “Here.” She handed the girl a few credits. “Buy yourself something to eat. Looks like you could use it.”

“Shouldn’t we go to the police?” the little girl asked, hiding the credits in her pouch.

“The police? Good luck. He’d slip the right person a few credits and be right back here to hunt you down.”

“But that’s not fair!”

She shook her head. “Look, I don’t know where you come from, but ‘fair’ isn’t something that happens on this planet. Listen kid, you wanna survive out here, you gotta make your own justice. Someone tries to mess with you, you hurt them first or you hurt them back.  You stick up for yourself, your friends, and anyone who can’t stick up for themselves, got it?”

The man stirred, and the bounty hunter dragged him up by the front of his shirt and pulled him away from the girl.

“Listen up, scumbag,” she hissed quietly enough that she thought the child couldn’t hear, “I’ll be back on this planet in two weeks. If I come back, and you’ve laid a finger on her, I will personally grind your ass into the dust so hard they’ll see the crater from the next star system. Now get out of here.” She shoved him towards the marketplace, and he stumbled away dizzily.

She turned back towards the girl and picked up her helmet. At the entrance of the alley, she paused and added: “One more thing. Get yourself a weapon. Even if it’s just a club or a staff or something. I’ll give you a couple lessons when I’m back on this planet.” Then she put on her helmet and vanished into the crowd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Your questions, suggestions, reactions, and concrits are welcome. I'd be especially grateful for feedback on Rey's character development in this story.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey felt every nerve in her body come alive with dark energy as the wave of suffering surged through her and into Kylo Ren. He let out a yell of shock and pain, trying to pull his mind away from hers. She held him tightly, but the wave faded as relief took its place.  _ Finally _ . How many months had it been since she’d first wished for this chance? 

The betrayal and fear were clear on Kylo’s face, even if he tried to cover them with an expression of snide boredom. No wonder he wore a mask, if his emotions were that obvious. 

“Guess I should have seen that coming,” he sneered up at her. “You weren’t kidding about embracing the power of the dark side. Since when do you enjoy causing pain?” 

“I’m not causing pain, Kylo. You caused this pain. You think you can burn down half the galaxy and leave the rest of us to pick up the pieces of the lives you’ve ruined, while you sit in this room perfectly comfortable and oblivious?” Rey’s voice shook with anger. “No, Kylo, this is  _ your  _ pain, and I’m just putting it back where it belongs.” 

He strained forward as though he wanted to tackle her, stopped only by the cable holding his wrists to the headboard. “ _ My _ pain? What do you know about my pain?!?” he roared. “You don’t know my life! You think just because Ben’s parents seemed like nice people--” 

His voice turned to a wheezing gasp as Rey’s outstretched hand Force-choked his throat. 

“Shut up, Kylo,” she spat. “No one wants to hear about your parents. You feel abandoned by them? Boo, hoo. My parents left me alone on a foreign planet when I was five, yet somehow I managed not to blow up an entire star system.” 

She relaxed her grip, leaving him panting and gulping down air while she continued. “You know who else grew up without parents? My friend Finn, and everyone else who grew up as a Stormtrooper, because of you Empire wannabes. They’ll never know their families. So don’t talk to me about your parents, Kylo, since you  _ had  _ parents and were perfectly happy to kill--”

Kylo, having recovered his voice, burst in. “You think I was happy? Did that  _ look  _ like happiness to you? You don’t have a clue what I was feeling--”

“Fine.” Rey raised her arm again. “You’ve piqued my curiosity. Show me the memory, or I’ll reach in and take it myself.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, dialogue, the hardest part of writing fiction. I'm still taking suggestions for the direction of the story and questions you want answered, so feel free to comment!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen I know I haven't updated this in literally two years, and I don't know what came over me today, but I'll take it over writer's block! Thanks to everyone who kudosed this WIP.

Threatening to rip Kylo’s memories from him woke a pang of guilt somewhere in the back of Rey’s mind. She knew how that felt, and she knew what it did to people. 

And not just because he’d done it to her, either. In her first days on the Resistance base, when Finn was still in the medbay and Luke had just left in search of his nephew, leaving Rey with a handful of exercises to practice and a promise to train her when he returned, it was the pilots who accepted her into their circle. When a few members of Black Squadron practically dragged her away from the dinner table she’d been sitting at alone, and demanded she tell them all about flying the Millennium Falcon, she assumed she’d be on her own again as soon as the novelty wore off. Yet within a few days, they were sitting together for every meal, the rowdiest table in the mess hall, and this band of risk-takers and rebels-at-heart made her feel more alive and less lonely than ever. 

But some mornings, Poe Dameron would wander in to breakfast looking fragile and ten years aged, and even when he claimed to be okay and tried to put on his usual swagger, his laugh never reached his eyes. Everyone knew that he hadn’t slept, that he’d spent the past few hours reliving his captivity on the  _ Finalizer _ , and that they should wait to be alone with him before saying anything about it. And on one of those mornings, the third one that week, Rey noticed him staring away from their group, looking like even if his body was there, his mind was floating light-years away in the silent and empty space between planets. 

It wasn’t fair. On Jakku, if someone hurt or stole from one of her friends, it was as easy as chasing down the thief, taking back what was stolen, and sometimes leaving a few threats or bruises, just for good measure. She earned enough of a reputation, eventually, that just a look from her could keep her friends safe. Even if Unkar Plutt and his lackeys treated them like slaves, among the scavengers she was a queen, her staff the sceptre that meted out her own style of justice. And if she wasn’t there to stick up for the defenseless, then the fists, knives, or claws of a handful of allies would be. In the month before Finn had come for her, a family had found themselves stranded on Jakku and turned to scavenging to make ends meet. After a day or two, they had left their grandmother alone under the cleaning tent, and no one, not even Teedo, had bothered her. How was it that she could protect a helpless old woman she barely knew, even in the anarchic wasteland surrounding Niima Outpost, yet one of her best friends wasn’t safe in his own bed at night? It was absurd. She ached for him, but what use was that if she couldn’t do anything? 

Poe was sitting next to her, and she slipped her hand under the table and reached for his. He closed his eyes and wrapped his fingers around hers, squeezing her hand as if it were the only thing keeping him tethered to the planet. She didn’t need the Force to feel his unhappiness, or his desperation to be okay.    
  
Had Kylo not known what effect his mental assault would have, Rey wondered as she held Poe's hand, or was he hateful enough to do it intentionally? Or did he simply not care, as long as he got what he wanted? There was a tiny part of Rey that wanted to do to Kylo what he had done to them---either he needed to know how it felt, or he deserved it. But Kylo wasn’t here, he was fleeing through the galaxy from Luke and the rest of the Resistance. They were going to bring him to justice, and everything would be okay. 

**Author's Note:**

> This story is on hiatus until I can work through some problems with a beta reader. Thanks for reading!


End file.
